Part 16: Demise, Wrong Endings, Part 1

After Ryou appears in the entranceway near the beginning of the chapter, investigating him triggers our first Wrong End. If you're holding the paper charm, you'll be protected, but you can simply investigate him again afterwards. Encountering him in the hallway without the charm will also trigger this Wrong End.

I was caught in his cold, dead hands. He had me by the wrist and absolutely was not letting go.

The lhibbing ahh so wahhm... I wahhn to feel moah... Nghh! Ghgh!

With one sudden, inelegant movement, he grabbed my hair in his other hand and began violently pulling on it with all his might.

Ow! Ouugh...gyaAAH! No, stop!

In that instant, I found myself unable to breathe and unable to speak. The hand that was previously on my wrist was now strangling the life out of me, gripping my neck with an almost inhuman amount of strength.

Urrgh...ghhhkkh... Ca...'t... ...brea...e... (He's just a child! How can he be this strong?!)

For a brief moment, I could feel a cold sensation on my arm.

GYAAagh! ...Aaaoooooouuugh...

And then just like that, my entire torso was forced backwards into a decidedly unnatural bend. I heard a sound like the cracking of a huge lobster tail. Sudden jolts of intense pain shot through every last inch of my body like electricity, and sweat began overflowing from every pore.

When I came to, I found myself restrained. I couldn't move a muscle. I was lying face-up on some kind of table with both my arms and both my legs firmly bound by...rope? I guess. It was digging into my skin, whatever it was.

Goddammit! I must have passed out or something... And after Shinozaki specifically warned me not to look into his eyes, too!

My head was the only part of my body that didn't have its movements prohibitively restricted, so I was able to look around the room to some extent. The walls and ceiling seemed to be made of dirt or mud. I didn't get the impression that I was in the school anymore. It looked and felt like I was in some basement room -- or more specifically, a mine or a bomb shelter or...something. Thick, sloppy blood stains saturated every corner of the room, and the stench in the air was enough to send a shiver down even the most hardened spine. It seemed fairly apparent what this room was used for. At least, it was apparent as it needed to be. But the scariest part was...

Or I had a nagging sense that I'd been here before, anyway, much like Shinozaki had said about that weird classroom just moments before.

I don't get any of this. What the hell is going on around here?! I've got to figure out...how to escape...

...!

The voice belonged to a little girl who looked like she was right around ten years old at most. She was wearing a red dress and staring at me through a mop of messy black hair with a smirk on her face and a condescending glint in her eyes.

Sachiko... ...Wait... Sachi...ko...?

I muttered a name without thinking, surprising myself. How did I know who this was? Or more to the point...who was Sachiko?

I wasn't able to kill you last time, but I'm ready to see this through to the end now. And I'm going to take my time with it, too. I'm going to make sure everything goes exactly the was I want it to. ...Take out your paper scrap! Why don't you shut the fuck up, you psychotic little brat?!

Sachiko was now staring at me with a cold, unmoved and unwavering expression. I was in more pain than I'd ever felt in my entire life. I focused on the gaze of the filthy giant at her side, who seemed to be doing her bidding.

His enormous hammer was still resting on the mess that was previously my right ankle up until about a few seconds ago. I was all too aware that the extreme impact pierced my flesh, shattered my bones and even sprayed the room with shards of marrow.

GGGGGGHHHHHKK...GHHHH...GGGLLLLLRRK...

This was beyond pain. Every last nerve ending in my body was on alert. I could feel the underside of my skin. I wanted to puke, but knew it would do no good.

*giggle* I'm going to crush every last part of you one after the other, from the tip of your toes on up. ...Go on, then! Keep going! Uuuurrrggh...o-okeeagh.

Wrong End 2 can be triggered in a couple of different ways. The most obvious is to investigate Ryou while in classroom 4-A. I went with the method above because it's a little bit less obvious. You'll also get caught by him if you let him catch up to you outside the custodian's closet, go inside as a means of escape, and then turn around and go right back outside.

While Yoshiki and Mayu are trying to rescue Nana in the locker room, we choose to reach for the bucket.

We can worry about the bandages later, but if that bucket falls, it's all over. We've got to do something about it, pronto! Y-You're right. Okay, I'll hold down the statue on the shelf, then. All right. And I'll try to get that bucket down. Make sure you hold on tight. Be careful!

Yoshiki reaches for the bucket.

Don't try anything funny with it or it might spill! I know, I know! God forbid there's sulfuric acid in there or something, where the slightest spill would mean game over. We could try stacking a few desks or chairs... Yeah, I think that may be our only option here.

This brought to mind all the doors and windows that were so firmly frozen in place they might as well have been cement walls. I didn't need convincing. I knew what Kishinuma said was true. Those desks and chairs weren't going anywhere. I had no other choice but to step in.

Why are there desks and chairs in the pool locker room...?

B-But, you're wearing a skirt...! Now's not the time to worry about that! We need to get this done before the statue falls, right?! G-Got it!

Mayu climbs onto Yoshiki's shoulders.

Aahh! What the hell is wrong with this desk? Is the floor buckled or something?! Don't worry, Suzumoto, I've got you. Just focus on what you're doing! O-Okay...

I swallowed nervously, then reached my hands over my head, careful not to make any sudden movements. I could reach the bucket's handle just fine, fortunately. Now all that remained was untying it and getting it down without spilling whatever happened to lie within...

Rrg... Mnnn... Uwaaah?! God, what the hell is in here?! It's really heavy!

It felt almost as if the whole thing was filled to the brim with lead. I tried my hardest to maintain balance while adjusting to this unexpected new mass in my hands, but...

Rrg... I...can't...!

Music: None

Inevitably, my hands gave out, and the bucket was airborne. Someone had coated it with soapy water or oil, making it virtually impossible to hold on to. Whoever set this trap apparently anticipated this very scenario, and planned for it accordingly. We were meant to find this girl. We were meant to try rescuing her. And we were meant to fail miserably. This was all one big joke to someone.

The bucket flipped over in midair, raining its contents down onto the unknowing, unsuspecting victim below. Directly onto her face.

Nooooooooo...!

Her cried only lasted for one or two seconds. They were followed by a few convulsions in her legs...and then stillness.

It took almost no time at all for what was left of her pale, perfect skin to be dyed crimson.

When choosing who will climb into the hole to collect the mysterious shiny object, we choose to send Yoshiki instead of Mayu. The screen fades out, and Yoshiki is secured with the rope.

Thanks! I'm going to take that first step now. I leave the rope -- or the bandages, I guess -- in your capable hands. Roger that. Be careful, okay? If anything happens, give the rope a tug to let us know and we'll pull you up. I don't think you two are quite capable or that. If anything happens, I plan to climb back up like a madman, so just make sure you hang on tight!

Yoshiki climbs into the hole, and our perspective shifts from Mayu to him.

Music: None

Everything all right? Do you see anything? It's too dark to tell just yet, but I'm going to feel around a bit.

Not that this is a pleasant prospect. Though it's too dark to see the area clearly, this entire space has an oppressive feel to it.

We inspect Hikari's body.

It's a girl's body. This is one of the ones that seems like a more recent death. So recent, in fact, that there's still a hint of body heat coming off of her. All of her fingers have been cut off, and her tongue seems to have been removed as well. Her student ID name tag is clearly displayed on her jacket:

Musashigawa Girls' Middle School
[Hikari Kiriue]

(Goddammit... How the hell do you tell someone their friend is dead?!)

There's something lying on the ground next to her body. It seems to be the glinting object that called attention to this room in the first place.

After a split second of what seemed almost like weightlessness came a hard slam on the ground. And following momentarily afterward was the other end of the rope. Did the girls let go? Fortunately, it happened while still relatively low to the ground, resulting in bruises -- albeit painful ones -- rather than broken bones.

AAAHHH!! Oolgh...ghaah...nnngh... Make it...stop... SUZUMOTO!! Whoever you are, get your fucking hands off of her! The hell do you think you're doing?! Shig... I...I'm sorry... I'm so...sorry... Don't be a dumbass! You can't give up now! I'm going to reunite you with Morishige, I swear!

Uwaaaaggh! What the hell?! *spit* *splutter* Is this...blood?!

And mixed in with this blood were various meat-like chunks of varying shapes and sizes. Chunks that were clearly pieces of a person's body.